Diomansy Kamara
| clubnumber = 11 (2007-2008) 15 (2008-2011) | debut = Arsenal (a) (12 Aug 2007) | lastapp = Wigan (a) (15 Jan 2011) | firstgoal = Shrewsbury (a) (28 Aug 2007) | lastgoal = Peterborough (h) (8 Jan 2011) | joinedfrom = West Brom, £6 million - 9 Jul 2007 | leftfor = Eskişehirspor, Free - 1 Jul 2011 | leagueapps(gls) = 59 (12) | allapps(gls) = 67 (18) | otherclubs = Red Star (1998-1999) Catanzaro (1999-2001) Modena (2001-2004) Portsmouth (2004-2005) West Brom (2005-2007) (from Fulham) (2010) (from Fulham) (2011) Eskişehirspor (2011-present) | international = Senegal (2003-2011) | apps(gls) = 51 (9) }} Diomansy Kamara was a striker formerly at Fulham. He joined in 2007 and spent four seasons at Craven Cottage but was halted by a couple of bad injuries and struggled to become a main forward in the first team; kept out by the likes of Andy Johnson and Bobby Zamora. He was also employed on the flanks or in the 'number 10 role' in behind the striker as his pace and dribbling were effective and among his main attributes. He will be most remembered for his dramatic last minute winner in the 3-2 victory away at Manchester City in the 'Great Escape' season of 2007-08. He would often celebrate by twisting his hand up beside his head and over time this became a signature move whenever he would find the back of the net. =Career= Before Fulham Diomansy was born in Paris, France in 1980 and began his professional football career at local side Red Star as an 18-year-old for a solitary season before making a move to Italy in 1999 to join Catanzaro, who played in Serie C at the time. After two seasons there, he moved up to Modena where he began making a nameafter proving himself as a goalscorer in Serie A, after the club had gained promotion in his first season there. The first that most English fans had heard of Diomansy was when he made a move to Portsmouth in the Premier League for £2.5 million, after Modena's relegation back to Serie B. He spent one season on the coast, before a £1.5 million move to West Bromwich Albion. It was here that he enjoyed some of his best goalscoring form with 21 goals in 60 league appearances over two seasons, though 20 of those were whilst in the Championship. Due to his impressive goalscoring record in 2006-07, he caught the eye once more of other Premier League clubs. Fulham Diomansy signed for Fulham on 9 July 2007, brought in by Lawrie Sanchez for a fee of £6 million, a record fee for a sale by West Brom. His debut season at the club would be a near-disastrous one for Fulham, but a fairly strong one for himself, as Fulham escaped relegation by the skin of their teeth and stayed up on goal difference; Diomansy scoring some vital goals in the process. On 1 September 2007, he gained a valuable point for Fulham by scoring a last-minute overhead kick that earned them a 3-3 draw at home to Tottenham, but it was a match much later on in the season on 26 April 2008 that Diomansy would remain in the memory of most Fulham fans and the club's history. Trailing 2-0 at half-time away at Manchester City, Fulham were as it stood, relegated. However a goal from Diomansy and a Danny Murphy penalty rebound goal made it 2-2 with just over 10 minutes remaining. As Fulham piled on the pressure, the clinical goal came in the very last minute; Murphy threading a well-weighted pass through to Kamara, who lashed it past Joe Hart and sent the Fulham faithful into raptures. The club then won their remaining two matches and survived a remarkable season in the Premier League. Whilst playing for Senegal in a match against Liberia in June 2008, he ruptured his cruciate ligament, an injury which required reconstructive surgery and kept him out of action until February the following year. Due to this, manager Roy Hodgson brought in two strikers in Bobby Zamora and Andy Johnson for the 2008-09 season, meaning Diomansy had slipped down the pecking order by the time he returned in 2009. He finished the season with 4 goals for Fulham in a handful of appearances, most of them as a substitute, as he helped them to a club-best performance of finishing 7th in the Premier League. Due to the nature of other competitions results and the way the table finished, Fulham qualified for Europe the following season and would compete in the inaugral Europa League, a successor to the UEFA Cup. During the summer of 2009, he was linked with moves to Bordeaux and Roma, though neither materialised as he rejected a move abroad and was reported to have interest in transferring to another club in the UK. Despite this, he remained at the club and played the first half of the season at Craven Cottage, notably scoring the clubs' first group-stage goal away at CSKA Sofia in a 1-1 draw. In the January transfer window of 2010, the club allowed a move for Diomansy on loan to Celtic for the remainder of the season. After rumours of making the transfer permanent in summer 2010, he decided to stay at Fulham after there was a change in managers after Roy Hodgson's move to Liverpool, with Mark Hughes appointed in his place. Unfortunately for Diomansy, he didn't feature much in Hughes' plans and was used sparingly, though he did score his first hat-trick at the club in an FA Cup tie at home to Peterborough in the 3rd round, where Fulham won 6-2. His struggle to get into the first team under Hughes was largely due to the signing of Mousa Dembélé, who despite plying his trade later on as a midfielder, was signed as a striker. He had played his final match for Fulham in January 2011, after which he was again let out on loan, this time to Leicester City for the remainder of the season. After an inconsistent stint there, and with Mark Hughes considering him to be surplus to requirements, Diomansy was released at the end of the season, with Turkish club Eskişehirspor snapping him up several days before his contract ran out. After Fulham After joining Eskişehirspor on a free transfer, he became a fan favourite and an important part of the team and scored regularly for the club. Though his international career had now appeared to be at a standstill, he has enjoyed success over three seasons in Turkey, including being top scorer in his debut season at Eskişehirspor. =Fulham Statistics= Appearances Disciplinary = Fulham Matches = Editing in progress External links and references Category:Players Category:Forwards Category:Senegal